Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

In this course

Leibniz appears in the course primarily as a foundational figure in the history of computational and logical thinking, part of a genealogy tracing from early mechanistic philosophy through to contemporary AI imaginaries. His invention of the calculus and differential equations established the mathematical framework for describing dynamic systems—how small changes propagate through interconnected observables—which remains central to how machine learning models simulate and predict behavior. The readings position him alongside figures like Llull and Lovelace as a precursor to modern "thinking machine" concepts, embedding him in a longer arc of attempts to formalize reasoning itself.

Mentioned in 5 readings